An email marketing campaign has been circulated by payments entity PayPal, attempting to discourage eBay sellers form the UK from advertising the offer to pay by cheque or postal order.

PayPal claim that the reason for this is because the Detailed Seller Ratings reviews left by purchasers who have made transactions using the PayPal facility, score significantly higher, than payment made through other methods.

The majority of seller listings on the auction site must now offer PayPal in accordance with eBay rules.

The idea will be greeted with mixed feelings however, as review scores should not in theory be influenced by how payment is made.

Despite this, it is clear from PayPal's research that eBay users paying by cheque are less happy with how their transaction pans out - than other buyers.